Aberystwyth playgrounds will be reopened for the duration of the Easter school holiday.

During a full town council meeting on 22 March, Aberystwyth town councillors decided to open all their playgrounds for the duration of the Easter holiday.

Currently, Penparcau playground is opened to the public without restrictions. Plascrug playground is open on weekdays between 10am and 2pm and fully open on weekends. Castle Park playground is also opened between 10am and 2pm on weekdays but closed over the weekend.

During the March meeting, held on Monday evening, council clerk Gweneira Raw-Rees passed on a request from Cllr Alex Mangold, who has been an avid supporter of reopening the parks, that “all playgrounds are open during the Easter holidays”.

Cllr Talat Chaudhri responded: “I’d like to make a point about consistency and what we’ve done before.

“This is what we did at Christmas, the number of infections are low, if they weren’t I would be thinking differently. The risk is considerably lower than at Christmas at the moment and were talking about a period of two or three weeks.”

Cllr Kerry Ferguson said she had heard confusion regarding why the parks are currently only open between 10am and 2pm, but that when she explained this decision they were “completely happy with it”.

Plascrug was opened in a limited capacity in line with school opening times so as to avoid children and parents from the two, large, nearby schools “piling in at the same time”.

Castle Park proves popular with visitors, but is not a spacious park, with a “good percentage” of the equipment enclosed. By closing Castle Park on weekends, the council hoped people would be diverted to Plascrug playground which is more open.

Whereas Penparcau was opened without restrictions as it is “a very open park and there isn’t a huge demand”.

Cllr Jeff Smith said: “I am a bit torn, the only reservation I have is how many tourists are we expecting at Easter time and would that make it rather more busier than they were at Christmas?”

Cllr Ferguson pointed out that tourism will be limited to self-contained accommodation and a large portion of the Hywel Dda population are now vaccinated: “There are a lot more variables in favour of them being open.”

Cllr Brendan Somers also pointed out the low transmission in outside spaces: “I don’t see any reason why we should not open them, irrespective of whether many tourists show up.”

All councillors agreed to open the playgrounds for Easter, except for Cllr Smith who abstained from the vote.

• A MINIATURE blue road has been painted on an Aberystwyth playground, as part of improvements to the town’s playgrounds.

After Aberystwyth Town Council received a Welsh Government grant of £2,200, which had to be spent by the end of March, they “came up with an idea that could be achieved within quite a short time frame and for a relatively modest amount of money”.

Consequently, a miniature blue road around the equipment in Plascrug playground has been painted.

Aberystwyth mayor Charlie Kingsbury said: “It’s been great to see how changes to the park have been such a success with children. The painted ‘roads’ have been well used by families making use of the park responsibly.

“Access to play areas is vital for the development of children and I’m glad to see we have been able to open all our parks now albeit with reduced opening times in line with advice from schools.”

Clerk to the council Gweneira Raw-Rees said the idea came from previous discussions with local schoolchildren and has proved “immensely popular”.

The town council-run Castle and Plascrug parks were closed in March 2020 and, despite being given the go-ahead by the Welsh Government to reopen, the council announced in July 2020 they would still remain shut.

Penparcau park was closed for renovations but has reopened.

Parks reopened over the Christmas school holiday due to pleas from councillors and parents. Penparcau remained open after this period and Plascrug was reopened until schools returned.

During February’s council meeting, councillors decided to open Plascrug on weekdays between 10am and 2pm and all weekend. Castle playground reopened between 10am and 2pm on weekdays but remains closed over the weekend.

Equipment in all three playgrounds was renovated prior to reopening, and the council is now looking at improving the surfacing in Plascrug and Castle parks, as well as completing the works in Penparcau park.